{"id":2667,"date":"2022-03-15T13:42:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/top-trends\/2667\/"},"modified":"2022-03-15T13:42:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:42:08","slug":"ukraine-war-protester-exposes-cracks-in-kremlins-war-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/top-trends\/2667\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war: Protester exposes cracks in Kremlin’s war message"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Channel One of Russian state television plays a crucial role in Kremlin media messages. It is the second most popular channel in Russia, with millions watching its main news program, Vremya (Weather).<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Normally, there is no room to deviate from the party line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So when Marina Ovsyannikova ran onto the set behind the prime-time newscaster, brandishing a sign reading “Stop the War!”, it was an unprecedented moment of anti-Kremlin dissent that spilled into living rooms. of all country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms. Ovsyannikova, whose father is Ukrainian and whose mother is Russian, is believed to be in police custody, but her exact whereabouts are unknown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His protest is extraordinary in more ways than one. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For starters, Channel One viewers aren’t even used to hearing the word “war” used to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The government has ordered the media to call it a “special military operation” launched to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Ovsyannikova’s protest was also directed at President Putin’s main supporters: most Russians still use state television as their main source of news, rather than reports of the dwindling number of independent websites or of social networks. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Organizing a protest like this requires extraordinary courage. Ten days earlier, Russia passed a law under which anyone who challenges the Kremlin’s version of events in Ukraine can face up to 15 years in jail. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nearly 15,000 anti-war protesters have been arrested since the invasion began, according to the Ovd-info website. None of them have reached as many homes in Russia as Ms. Ovsyannikova did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Beyond a few seconds of exposure on Channel One, state media have ignored the protest. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed his action as hooliganism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fearing attack, independent Russian websites have blurred or pixelated Ms. Ovsyannikova’s poster. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Novaya Gazeta, for example, left only one line on its poster still legible: “Don’t believe the propaganda.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It’s a different story on social media, where this anti-Putin moment has been seen as a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak Russian media landscape. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Marina Ovsyannikova is a hero of Russia!” opposition politician Ilya Yashin said on Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Five seconds of truth can wash away the dirt of weeks of propaganda,” said another opposition politician, Lev Shlosberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His protest is not the only crack in the Kremlin media machine’s campaign to convince the Russians that the operation in Ukraine is neither a war nor an invasion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hours later, news broke that a veteran presenter from another major television channel, NTV, had left the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“First I left [Russia] because I was afraid they wouldn’t let me go like this, so I tendered my resignation,” Lilia Gildeyeva told a prominent blogger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What awaits Ms. Ovsyannikova is less clear. Lawyer Anastasia Kostanova told BBC Russian that she was now undergoing a pre-investigation check at the hands of the Russian Investigative Committee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think they will try to test a new criminal article on counterfeits, and in order to intimidate them, they will try to use the maximum punishment provided for in this article: up to 15 years in prison,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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